Simply Belle

A good friend of mine asked me if I could post an article about his nephew, who is currently awaiting surgery in Jose Reyes Medical Hospital, in Sta Cruz, Manila. His name is Armand Jerome Fernandez.

Unfortunately, Armand was born with hydrocephalus. This condition occurs in 1 out of 1000 babies, and it means that the baby is born with too much water in the brain. The water that builds is called ceresbrospinal fluid, a clear water-like fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. The excess fluid can increase pressure in baby’s brain, possibly resulting in brain damage and loss of mental and physical abilities. That is why prompt medical attention is needed to help limit serious long-term problems.

Here’s the problem though. Armand, who will turn 10 months old this November 28, was admitted earlier this month at a charity ward in Jose Reyes Medical Hospital for an operation. However, they had to cancel the operation because the baby suddenly developed a high fever brought about by an infection in the brain. The doctor, Dr Romeo Encanto, had to put the baby on antibiotic to get rid of the infection before he can proceed with the operation.

Meanwhile, the baby is confined in the hospital waiting for the fever to completely go away so the doctor can perform the operation. The baby is constantly crying. Water is now coming out of his nose, and is causing him severe discomfort and pain. All the mother can do is sympathize with him, cry with him, and perpetually hold him day in and day out.

Though the operation is free, still the parents are responsible for buying the medicines. And you know that medicines nowadays are very expensive, especially for the young couple like Armand and Jenelyn Fernandez. He is 22 years old, and she is 20 years old, and both are natives of Bagumbayan, Bato, Catanduanes, Philippines. Father works odd jobs in the province, receiving a measly pay. Mother is a full-time housewife, and is currently at the baby’s beck and call in the hospital, 24 hours a day.

So, the couple are turning to you for any help you could spare them. A few dollars/prayers and prayers would give the baby the chance to live.

Baby Armand

Mother and son

You may contact Shelly at chie_tg@yahoo.com or at this number: 00639193498681

Or you may contact me through this blog for any help you can spare to the child.

Oh God, please help this baby.

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our prolific garden

during our trip to Catanduanes 6 years ago

As of this moment, I am 36, errr 46 years old, and I look forward to my retirement days with great merriment and excitement. For a woman my age, what better thing is there to do than to plan and conceptualize what I intend to do with my future. There’s nothing we can do with our young and energetic past life as we can never bring it back. It is all history now. All we can do is recollect the happy moments and use them as an inspiration to tackle our life ahead, and at the same learn from the mistakes we made in the past, making sure that we avoid those errors as we move on.

I dream of nothing spectacular really, but something simple and practical. Currently, I live in a foreign land, but I don’t intend to live here in my retirement days full time. I want to go back where my heart is – my home sweet home, and to reside there 50% of the time. To realize this goal, I plan to buy a huge piece of property in the province that I can develop into a fruit plantation. Yes, I am fully aware that there are pros and cons in living in the province.

Pros: rain is a plenty which is a must for plantation, the weather is conducive for a year-round gardening, cheap labor, near relatives and friends, low cost of living, beaches abound, food is wholesome, etc.

Cons: the super typhoon that comes every 10 years that practically demolishes everything. the possibility of tsunami, earthquakes.

But Catanduanes and its people are resilient to all these calamities. They have the ability to bounce back from adversity, depression, or the likes. Look at Catanduanes now, who could tell that a little over 2 years ago, all living things were strewn all over the ground transforming the forest into a lifeless, brown landscape. It was like a nature’s way of pruning the vegetation. Everything came to a halt for a while until slowly, greens started cropping up, the trees sprouted new leaves, thereby filling the earth with verdant greens and luscious forest. It has been proven that Catanduanes has the ability to recover readily from all types of adversities, so why not go back to the province?

Going back to my dream, I also want to raise pigs and chickens, the organic way, for personal consumption. I understand that to have a good and healthy plantation, I would need plenty of manure from these animals. So, you see, animals and plants are like two different species that are interdependent but gains benefits from each other. Whatever vegetables scraps I have will come in handy for pigs.

So, when I have visitors, I don’t have to rush to Virac palengke to feed them. I will have fresh eggs readily available, or I will have someone slaughter a chicken/pig, and for side dishes, I will turn to whatever is in season from my vegetables—all guaranteed organic. Or I can always check with my fishermen for fresh catch of the day? Does fresh kusido sound appealing to you? Dessert? What better way of serving my guests with fresh and tree-ripened fruits from the farm than with a sugar laden cakes and ice-cream?

What sort of fruit tress do I intend to plant? Jackfruit, for one, if planted right, can be prolific, as it can produce anywhere from 50 to 250 fruits over a year. Avocado is a very healthy fruit that is almost extinct in the province as people seem to have lost interest in re-planting it. Pili – there is a big demand for pili nuts in the province to make delicious pili nut delicacies that are not only popular in the Philippines but in the foreign land, as well. Indian mango grows exceedingly well in the province. Papaya, Hawaiian pineapple, breadfruit, banana of all sorts, passion fruit, guava, guyabano, pumelo, duhat, balingbing, lemon, santol, star apple, kamias, and of course, coconut. All these fruits that I mentioned had been successfully grown in the province, but the typhoon eradicated some of them as no one cared to replace them. Just tell me where I can find them and I will grow them back in Bato.

In addition to the above, I also want to raise an organic vegetable garden all year round. My husband is an avid orchadist, and a gardener. He grows beautiful garden.

What I will do for fun? Well, for one thing, I don’t drink or smoke, and neither does my husband. Mababaw lang ang kaligayahan namin. My idea of fun is to swim in the Batalay beach in the early morning or evening, and take a walk along the beach to savor the fresh breeze of the ocean. Or ride on a tractor and navigate the farm – directionless.

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On Halloween’s day, my husband and I decided to abandon the tricker treaters, left the house in total darkness, and headed up to the place called Monument Valley, located just south of Utah border and Arizona, near the four corners area, where Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico touch.

Monument Valley boasts of beautiful rock formations that were slowly revealed through erosion some 50 million years ago, producing one of the most majestic and photographed landscapes on earth. It’s where many motion pictures were filmed, like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Once Upon a Time in the West, Marlboro commercials, to name a few.

We didn’t get to explore the valley because the tour cost a little too much, and we didn’t feel like spending our hard-earned money on pricey tour. Yes, there might have been more to see down the valley, but that can wait until later when we go back there again.

This time, I would like to share with you, my blogger friends and readers, the Monument Valley.

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Updates on E: She had surgery last Wednesday, April 12, and yesterday, her doctor informed her that she is cancer free. The lymph node that was sent to pathology showed no signs of cancer whatsoever. Probably because two weeks before surgery, she was on flaxseed cottage cheese, and juicing diet religiously, and avoided meat and processed food completely. A mere coincidence? You be the judge.

My good friend E has recently been diagnosed with stage 2 cancer, and she is very much devastated.  Of course, I am sad, too, because she is like a family to us. My kids call her aunt E since they were little. I try my best to comfort her the best I can, but in the process, I often give the wrong advice. When I give advice, I put myself in the person’s shoes, and come up with words that would make me feel good. Which accomplishes nothing but the opposite, though, I meant nothing but good for her. I must admit, I am poor at giving advices, so it is best that I don’t say much but offer lots of prayers for her.

Anyway, her husband got her started on Dr Johanna Budwig Diet which consists  of flaxseed oil and cottage cheese.  These essential nutrients when combined properly prevents and cures cancer as the doctor claimed. The mixture has to be eaten right away for it to work.

Dr Budwig, a German doctor and  cancer researcher in Europe, found the blood of seriously ill cancer patients lacked certain important essential ingredients which included substances called phospatides and lipoproteins, while the blood of the healthy person contains adequate amount of these essential ingredients. Her research showed that cancel cells divide and grow crazy when the body is nutritionally deficient of such ingredients.

To get the full benefit, it is recommended that a cancer patient gets on the juicing regimen by juicing carrots, green leafy vegetables, beets, and apples. Green tea is recommended, too. Getting plenty of sunshine is a must. Sugar is highly forbidden. Other forbiddens are meat products, processed food, all salad oil, butter, margarine, and preserved meat.

Actually last night, I added 2 T of freshly ground-up flax seeds to my fresh organic veggies from the garden. On top of it, I added some evvo and balsamic vinegar. Delicious!

If you were diagnosed with cancer, would it hurt to give this a try?

Take a look at this video:

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The cheaper way costs $10.68 including tax, and

The expensive way cost $325 plus tax plus you get a free bracelet.

Get the drift?

My husband and I had been wanting to visit the Petrified Wood forest so we took advantage of the tail end of the warm weather to visit the place. There were only two entrances available to get to the place; the south side and the north side.  We entered the north entrance. The inspection lady at the entrance asked us if we had any petrified woods that we might have bought from somewhere prior to going in.  We said No! She reiterated that if we had them in our possession, she would like to put them in a brown bag and label them accordingly and hold them for us. Also, she gave us adequate warning not to pick up rocks, petrified woods, plants, or animals inside the territory.

Which got us to thinking.

We drove about 25 miles into the road, and saw tons of petrified wood scattered all over. Petrified wood is a wood that turns into rock through the process of petrification and it dates back millions years ago. If you look closely at the pictures, the original cell structure of the woods is retained; grain is very visible.  Petrified wood can be made into jewelry, and beautiful ornamental and decorative nicknacks and furniture like coffee table with prices ranging from $500 to $5,000.

In one instance, I had to make a little detour and walk closer to the wood to get close up pictures and to satisfy my curiosity if, indeed, the wood is as hard as rock by touching it with my bare hands. It was solid rock, alright, and very heavy. I was fascinated just thinking of the million of years it took for the woods to get petrified.

We saw rocks of all sizes. There were shattered logs here and there from the side of the road that one can easily get tempted to pick, and take them home for souvenirs.  And there were not a whole lot of people to deter one from picking one either. There were no barbed wires to stop people from walking close to the rocks. One can easily succumb to temptations at any given time.

The devil tried to persuade me, but the angel convinced me otherwise. All I took out were tons of pictures.

As we are nearing the exit gate, about 5 miles away, I saw a sign that said, “vehicle inspection ahead.” Had I picked one, I would have thrown it right away to the side of the road right there and then. I didn’t want to get caught with those rocks in my possession and go through all the humiliations, paying a harsh penalty, and maybe go into my record for federal offense.

We stopped at the gate, and expected to be searched rigorously by the guard. But, he just looked and smiled  at us, and said “have a good day!” Huh? How would they know we were not hiding something? That baffled me.

After we passed the gate, I asked my husband to stop at the gift shop, just so I could look at the gift items available for sale. I went in there with burning question in my mind as to why they didn’t search me. I posed that question to the sales lady at the gift shop. She said, “if you are not reported, they will not apprehend you.” “You mean, there are hidden people who are watching everybody in there?” I asked. “Yes, using all kinds of detectors and satellites, and what not”, the lady answered.  We were not informed about these surveillances. The visitors’ honesty was really tested, and in many cases greed wins out as the lady said that they nab gobs of people everyday. The government is finally running their affairs profitably, I must say…he he.

Phew! If you ever visit the Petrified Wood National Park, be aware of the costly consequences plus the humiliation, and the hand cuffing involved……even for a piece of little dark rock that is of no value.

By the way, I bought that piece of petrified wood that you see at the top of the page as souvenir. If someday, I acquire lapidary machines, I will have my husband carve it into jewelry.

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Blogger friends, I would like to introduce to you all a young filipino mother who is new to the blogosphere. She is raising a 2-year old hearing impaired girl.

It was a gloomy morning on the 22nd day of November year 2005 when I gave birth to EC via caesarian section operation. EC was a high risk baby due to measles (rubiola) that I suffered from during my first trimester of pregnancy. No one could imagine how stormy the history of my pregnancy was. During that time I was told frankly by a resident doctor that the risk for congenital abnormalities to my unborn child was so high. I was not given any hope to cling on to so all the possible complications were laid out to me. My unborn baby was given a week to live because I was also told that I had a great chance of suffering from spontaneous abortion due to high fever brought by the infection. But if by chance the pregnancy continued still the probability of having a still birth was high.

Please read the rest of the story here.

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